Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-25
FORT WORTH.
Continued from First Page.

brave, hardy men, who, IN the space of
eleven years, have converted struggling
village into g commercial giant, the
greatest railroad center IN the state, with
its arteries tbrobbiDg with the richest
flow OF business activity and the products
of thousands of square miles OF fertile
and rapidly developing country tributary
to the city empty!ng into Il. To them be
Il said, that success lies st your feet;
behold il in your city, AID rejoice that
the neriod Of doubt has passed away
nerer to return. and that its commercial
future Is assured.
ELEVEN YEARS AGO.
On July is, the first railroad craWlad
like snail TO the corporation limits, and
TO-DAY the seventh railroad stretching
awsy to the southwest is being ironcu.
Eleven years 60 the total valuation OF
the town was il round numbers $3.50, 600;
to-day it Is about S6,000,000, an increase
of24OO per cent. in little over q decade.
Eleven years ago 1900 people was the
sum total of lis population, to-day It's IN
habitants approximate $4,000, an In
crease OF 2000 per cent. Then few
frame houses sbiIted the river bank On
the north with commons covering nine
tenths of the corporate limits; now broad
streets, borGered with costly and lnnu-
mergble business houses and dwellings
stretch east, vest and south for miles,
and addition after addition is being added
to the original survey of the corporation.
So rapid has its growth been that large
portion Of the city proper is row out
side Of the iuT!sdictlOnal limits OF lis
court end still it Creeps outWards from
q common center, gathering strength ana
velocity SIS il giiGes quietly until the
second decade Of its commercial deyeI-
opment. A new railroad is no longer a
great event TO the place; they come now
as 3 matter Of business and profit TO have
8 connection With the great center Of
transformation in Texas. There are now
nine outlets by rail and several surveys
being made in the remaining territory
tributary 20 this great business entrepot.
THESE ARE FACTS
which can be easily seen by glance at
the accurate map on the front page OF this
paper, snd the statements herein are the
brief history Of city that is Justly called
t'The Queen Of the Prairies."
EARLY HISTORY OF FORT WORTH.
TIE history OF Fort Worth is similar to
that Of gil large cities. Its site was Sc
Iected because Of its adaptability. The
esriv settlement WAS composed Of daring
men who had turned away from the
crowded east to seek fortunes IN the great
undeveIcped west. It's first years was
scarcely & promise Of its future, and the
possesscrs Of fine, desirable farms and
pastures, now covered by streets and
buildings, never Ore ed that IN the
space of their natural lives they would
see their little hamlet developed into 8
thickIy populated center Of commercial
greatness.
IN THE SPRING OF 1912
Major Ripley Arnold of the Second ORA
goons, United States army, in seeking for
an eligible site for one of 9 line OF posts
then recently designated to extend from
the Red river enthusiastically the Rio
Grande, Camped on the Trinity river about
one mile northeast of where the court
house of Tarrant county now stands, the
policy of the government being TO estao-
lish this Gordon of posts for the proteC-
ton OF the frontier against hostile Indians
and bands of marauders from the Mexican
territory. Northern Texas, west Of the
Lower Cross Timbers, was then Inhabited
almost exclusively by Indians.
The spot where the Dragons enCamped
was deemed remarkably eligible for 8
garrison on account of its elevation and
water supply, but few months later the
quarters were moved to q point now
marked by tt extremL northern end OF
Houston street in Fort Won -. Extensive
buildings we're erected, and the post be-
came : base of supplies for more distant
posts. The place was chTisteDed "Fort
Worth" in honor of one of the heroes OF
She Mexican war; he who stormed the
Bishops palace in Monterey,
IN 1853
the post bad q population OF about 100,
and settlers were rapidly coming into the
place. In November of this year the last
detachment of the Second Dragons, IN
der the command of Lieutenant Halliday,
lef: the post During the four years of
It's occupancy Major Arnold, its founder,
had retained the principal command, be-
ing relieved by Major Merrill in 1858, q
short time before the post was aban-
doned. Major Arnold met mis- death at
the hands OF the surgeon Of the post IN
der peculiarly distressing circumstances,
and mis- remains now rest IN the cemetery
near this city.
Upon the evacuation OF the post Col
oneI NJ. T. johnson and Archie Robinson,
the original owners Cf the surveys upon
which the post had been located, took
possession of the premises. In 1861 the
population numbered some $50 persons,
but the civil war iuterfered with the
towns growth, which, however, gradual
" continued, until IN the year 1876 Fort
Worth was thriving town with popula-
ton OF 1900.
1876.
The anniversary of American Indeper-
dence was fraught with much that fixed
the destiny of Fort Worth. This year
brought the first railroad, and as the first
train steamed into the town the citi-
zens celebrated its appearance with much
rejoicing and festivity. 1t would cause a
smile now upon the faces of those self
same men if they could witness similar
scene in this age oiTailrosd building. The
road came, and with ii great increase IN
business. The town became great cot
ton market, and in the fail of this year
the few struggling streets were literally
Choked up with this great Texas staple.
Dallas was no longer the terminus of
railway transportation in this section, and
Fort Worth became the base of supplies
or an immense scope Of country. The
retail merchants had an enormous vol
ume Of trade to handle. Gardens around
the square, in the center of which now
stands the courthouse of Tarrsnt county,
began to disappear, and for the first time
ia its existence the place commenced 8
rapid growth. In this year the
FIRST ARTESIAN WE'LL
in the town was bored by Mr.. James
Peters, on mis- own place in the south
western part of the city, close TO where
MYERS planning mill now stands. One